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Lift for Life Academy fifth grader Jayceon Smith, 11, works on a reading assignment in a classroom with a former Jimmy John’s sandwich shop seen behind him that is planned to become a Kind Goods marijuana dispensary, in the 1600 block of South Broadway, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023.
ST. LOUIS — A highly debated cannabis dispensary is opening its doors this week, right across the street from one of the city’s first charter schools — but without the drive-thru proposed in its original plan.
Kind Goods will host its grand opening Friday, about 150 feet from the two-decade-old Lift for Life Academy. The school of about 900 students tried to block the marijuana business, but St. Louis city code does not limit where dispensaries can open.
“We’re obviously not happy,” Marshall Cohen, executive director of Lift for Life Academy, said Thursday. “I can’t say how bad it is — no one would have had this at any other school district in the county.”
Originally, Kind Goods had requested a special-use permit from the city so it could operate a drive-thru at the $1.5 million store, but founder Kyle Lenzen said the company pulled the application in the interest of time.
“We wanted to get open and up and operating to prove to the neighborhood who we are,” Lenzen said. “We want to help build the city of St. Louis back up.”
Lenzen said that the company hasn’t heard anything negative from the school after he shared with its leadership the company’s plans and security measures, such as a permanent fence, 40 security cameras and an around-the-clock armed security guard.
Last fall, High Fidelity Brands, which owns Kind Goods, came under fire for the construction of its store at 1631 South Broadway, near Soulard. When the school learned of the planned dispensary, students organized a protest and parents, staff and local businesses lobbied elected officials to halt the project, saying that a cannabis business being so close to a school is inappropriate.
State regulations prohibit a marijuana facility within 1,000 feet of any elementary or secondary school, day care or church. But aldermen changed St. Louis code in 2020 to remove any spacing requirements.
In response to Kind Goods’ dispensary, in November Alderwoman Cara Spencer introduced a bill that would establish a 500-feet distance requirement for marijuana facilities that wished to operate near schools and daycares.
The bill was assigned to the housing, urban development and zoning committee and has not seen activity since.
Kind Goods isn’t the only dispensary opening near Life for Life Academy. About 150 feet away, construction is underway for a second dispensary at 1531 South Broadway. A building permit for interior and exterior alterations was issued in January to the building owner, Arkansas-based Good Day Farm, which has over 30 locations across Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri.
“Two cannabis stores on the same block, I can’t even conceptualize it in my mind,” Cohen said. “I don’t know what to say. This doesn’t happen to other schools.”
Cohen said he hopes the city gets behind Spencer’s distance requirement bill to prevent this from happening in other city neighborhoods.
Kind Goods was founded in 2021 and has locations in Manchester, Fenton and St. Peters. The new South Broadway store will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
St. Louis city operations director Nancy Cross discussed the lapse that neglected to establish a city marijuana tax. The issue, recently resolved, cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue. Cross spoke to a Board of Aldermen committee on Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023. Video edited by Beth O’Malley
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Lift for Life Academy fifth grader Jayceon Smith, 11, works on a reading assignment in a classroom with a former Jimmy John’s sandwich shop seen behind him that is planned to become a Kind Goods marijuana dispensary, in the 1600 block of South Broadway, on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2023.
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A school tried to stop a cannabis dispensary near Soulard. It opens tomorrow. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
